I've been looking for a 1x15 bass cab to go with my 2x12 peavey cab. I want a 1x15 cause I already blew up the 2x12 speakers running it the way I was. The head is 450 watts, and the 1x15 needs to be 4 Ohms. Now, I have no idea about cabs, I've looked into some Ampeg and Traynor cabs, but no real luck. I don't know of many cab makes. Can anyone suggest cheaper 1x15 cabs? Thanks.
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Need a new cab...
- Thread starter nato101010
- Start date
Rick Auricchio
Registered Bass Offender
If you blew up dual 12s, what makes you think you won't blow up a 15?
The most likely cause of speaker damage is simply running them too hard. If a speaker begins distorting (farting out), you have to back off. If you need more volume or a deeper tone, then you need more or different speakers.
Running too much wattage into a speaker is a less likely situation; most will be torn up long before they overheat. If, however, the speaker never farts out, you can overheat it. Power compression is when the speaker simply won't get any louder. You turn up the amp and the additional power just heats the speaker. Eventually you burn it up.
Tone, loudness, power compression and the "farting-out point" are all determined by cabinet design. Some do better than others.
The most likely cause of speaker damage is simply running them too hard. If a speaker begins distorting (farting out), you have to back off. If you need more volume or a deeper tone, then you need more or different speakers.
Running too much wattage into a speaker is a less likely situation; most will be torn up long before they overheat. If, however, the speaker never farts out, you can overheat it. Power compression is when the speaker simply won't get any louder. You turn up the amp and the additional power just heats the speaker. Eventually you burn it up.
Tone, loudness, power compression and the "farting-out point" are all determined by cabinet design. Some do better than others.
I was running it to hard with more wattage into the cab then it could handle, and if I ran it any quieter, I could stop playing and there would be no sonic difference. 2x12's don't provide the bottom I want. I want a deeper tone, that's why I posted this thread, sorry if i wasn't clear.
If i had a 1x15 at like 500 watts, I woudn't blow it up, so, maybe I should have said that i needed that much?
You need to educate yourself a little better. First, a 1x15 won't add more "bottom", vs. a 2x12, because that's all dependant on the cab's size and design, not the size of the speakers in the box. And, if you blew up 2 12's, you'd also blow a 15. What you want is either a big box with more speakers, like an 8x10, 6x10, 4x12, or 2x15, OR, a pair of smaller cabs, 4x10, 2x12, 1x15, etc.
I was going to run both the 2x12 and 1x15, as you mentioned in your post. A pair of smaller cabs.
What cab was the 2X12 ?
To my knowledge, Peavey did not ever make a bass 2X12 cab. That could be part of your problem.
Rick Auricchio
Registered Bass Offender
Nato, your clarification helps.
As RickenBoogie said, the bottom end is determined by the overall cabinet design and its speakers. Many 2x12 cabs have more bottom end than 15s.
Overall loudness is definitely a design issue.
The rule of thumb: small, loud, deep. You can only get two of these at once. Seriously. So for deep and loud, you can't have small. Etc.
What type of music do you play? Like many contemporary bassists, you may be trying to out-bass your heavy guitarists. This is a losing battle that you can never win.
The guitarist loves his bassy tone but is destroying your part musically. You can't possibly play a bass part---unless you're just going to slam the same notes he does---in which case an octave pedal would let him do your job.
The answer is to have a "thinner" guitar tone, with the bass picking up the bottom octave. Listen to recordings: the studio engineer has cut the bass of the guitars so the bassist can be heard. If this wasn't done, you'd have too much muddy noise. Chances are your live sound needs this treatment.
Good luck convincing a guitarist to change anything about his tone. He's so in love with the crunchy, bassy "bedroom tone" that he'll rarely listen.
As RickenBoogie said, the bottom end is determined by the overall cabinet design and its speakers. Many 2x12 cabs have more bottom end than 15s.
Overall loudness is definitely a design issue.
The rule of thumb: small, loud, deep. You can only get two of these at once. Seriously. So for deep and loud, you can't have small. Etc.
What type of music do you play? Like many contemporary bassists, you may be trying to out-bass your heavy guitarists. This is a losing battle that you can never win.
The guitarist loves his bassy tone but is destroying your part musically. You can't possibly play a bass part---unless you're just going to slam the same notes he does---in which case an octave pedal would let him do your job.
The answer is to have a "thinner" guitar tone, with the bass picking up the bottom octave. Listen to recordings: the studio engineer has cut the bass of the guitars so the bassist can be heard. If this wasn't done, you'd have too much muddy noise. Chances are your live sound needs this treatment.
Good luck convincing a guitarist to change anything about his tone. He's so in love with the crunchy, bassy "bedroom tone" that he'll rarely listen.
Rick Auricchio
Registered Bass Offender
Nato, running both cabs will help considerably with loudness. But it's unlikely you'll ever find a 4-ohm single-15 cab.
What impedance and wattage rating is on the 212 cab?
What impedance and wattage rating is on the 212 cab?
Typically, cheap cabs = low power handling and standard 8 ohm speakers. A 500watt, 4 ohm cab is more mid to high range price. you might check out Avatar, though. They make good cabs a competitive prices.
And also again, two of the same cab is almost always "better" than two different cabs, especially two different cabs with mixed-sized drivers. In this case, 2- 2x12's, (or, 2- 1x15's), would top pairing one of each. I'm also curious about your 2x12 Peavey. If it is a guitar cab, that would explain alot. and, +1 to Rick's post about the guitarists invading your sonic territory. You'll NEVER win that battle- time for a band meeting.
I agree...although with the right dual crossover btw the cabs...you can get them each doing their respective jobs.
....although...i havent figured this out in any logical execution yet...other than car audio....
....which, doesnt help. Sorry.
Wattage ratings of speakers is only the thermal level of failure for the voice coil.
There are other far more important parameters of the speaker/cab design that will determine if it will work for you.
Rick Auricchio
Registered Bass Offender
Since most bass cabs are designed to cover the full frequency range, using a crossover would be a waste. You can use 115 + a small mid cab. Lugging around 12s just to have them try to work like mid drivers would be a waste.
Alright, thanks guys, this has been a help in a muddy area.
BTW.....
My cab is a 2x10....not sure why i put 2x12.
BTW.....
My cab is a 2x10....not sure why i put 2x12.
Rick Auricchio
Registered Bass Offender
The more you learn, the better your choices will be. We're here to help, even though sometimes we can sound like wisecracking a-holes... 
You probably have a 210 TVX cab you've used by itself with your Peavey Nitro. Not a bad cab, but not expected to handle 300 watts, particularly with the wonky pre-amp the Nitro has. I run mine with the bass knob set at around 11:00 or 11:30 and run the mids boosted to 2:00 at around 400 to 800 hz. Flat (noon) settings on this amp are bassy as heck, at least with my Dr bass/Avatar 212s.
Speaker size doesn't mean much about how soon you'll reach the X-max limit, but if your heart is set on a 4Ω 15" cab anyway, the big 'ol Peavey 115BVX shows up in places like music go round/daddy's junky music all the time for 200 bucks or so. At the opposite end of the tonal spectrum (very mid punchy) the 4Ω Schroeder 15L, but it's rediculously pricy for what it is.
Speaker size doesn't mean much about how soon you'll reach the X-max limit, but if your heart is set on a 4Ω 15" cab anyway, the big 'ol Peavey 115BVX shows up in places like music go round/daddy's junky music all the time for 200 bucks or so. At the opposite end of the tonal spectrum (very mid punchy) the 4Ω Schroeder 15L, but it's rediculously pricy for what it is.
butchblack
Life is short. Do good. Find and do what you love.
Actually the old Peavey BW 115's were 4 Ω and you should be able to find one used cheap they're rated at 350W which if your amp puts out 450W and you're running 2 cabs you should be safe. Do heed the warnings on amp settings that have been posted. Personally I'd go with an Avatar 410 neo cab, rated for 1000W and still lighter then the 115 Peavey. I will ask a stupid question that your head will safely run 2 Ω. That wouldn't affect your blown speaker problem but could puke your amp quickly if it's not designed to go down to 2 Ω.
Ok, so what I've learned today is that matching cabs>mixed cabs.
I might end up selling the 2x10 and getting a 4x10...just maybe...
I'll be on the lookout on Kijiji and stuff. I was looking at a Warwick 2x15 4 Ohm cab for 400$, but I guess I'll keep looking now.
I got new speakers for my current 2x10 cab. Here's the specs if you like.
Peavey Scorpion S-10825 8 ohm Utility Driver Peavey Scorpion S-10825 8 ohm Utility Driver Features: Impedance: 8 Ohms Power capacity: 800 W Peak, 400 W Program, 200 W Continuous Sensitivity: 95.1 dB / 1 W 1 m Usable freq. range: 80 Hz to 4 kHz Cone: Kevlar® impregnated cellulose Voice coil diameter: 2.5 inch / 63.5 mm Voice coil material: Aluminum ribbon wire, Kapton former, Nomex® stiffener, Solderless diffusion welded OFHC copper leads Weight Unpacked: 7 Width Unpacked: 10.25 Depth Unpacked: 3.937 Height Unpacked: 10.25 Weight Packed: 10 Width Packed: 16 Depth Packed: 6.375 Height Packed: 15.375 Peavey Scorpion S-10825 8 ohm Utility Driver Specifications:
I might end up selling the 2x10 and getting a 4x10...just maybe...
I'll be on the lookout on Kijiji and stuff. I was looking at a Warwick 2x15 4 Ohm cab for 400$, but I guess I'll keep looking now.
I got new speakers for my current 2x10 cab. Here's the specs if you like.
Peavey Scorpion S-10825 8 ohm Utility Driver Peavey Scorpion S-10825 8 ohm Utility Driver Features: Impedance: 8 Ohms Power capacity: 800 W Peak, 400 W Program, 200 W Continuous Sensitivity: 95.1 dB / 1 W 1 m Usable freq. range: 80 Hz to 4 kHz Cone: Kevlar® impregnated cellulose Voice coil diameter: 2.5 inch / 63.5 mm Voice coil material: Aluminum ribbon wire, Kapton former, Nomex® stiffener, Solderless diffusion welded OFHC copper leads Weight Unpacked: 7 Width Unpacked: 10.25 Depth Unpacked: 3.937 Height Unpacked: 10.25 Weight Packed: 10 Width Packed: 16 Depth Packed: 6.375 Height Packed: 15.375 Peavey Scorpion S-10825 8 ohm Utility Driver Specifications:
